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Funding

There are multiple funding sources for competitive jobs and community life for people with IDD. This topic includes publications about less typical funding sources.

For information on how state IDD agencies use traditional funding sources, check out the State Agency Promising Practices page.

To read about real life examples of how funding was used to support job seekers, go to Think Work Stories.

Publications

What People with IDD Want You to Know about HCBS Waiver Employment Services

This Research to Practice brief examines the perspectives of people with IDD and their families on Medicaid HCBS waiver employment services through focus groups and interviews. The study explores experiences with employment supports, service delivery systems, and funding structures, identifying key barriers and opportunities to improve access to meaningful integrated employment. Findings highlight the importance of high-quality, person-centered services, improved coordination across systems, stable and skilled employment support staff, and increased access to transportation and technology supports.

Using Self-Directed Transportation Services to Support Competitive Integrated Employment

Self-directed transportation services can help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) overcome one of the biggest barriers to competitive integrated employment: getting to work. Drawing on interviews with individuals with IDD, family members, and support brokers, this research to practice brief highlights how flexible transportation options can increase independence, expand career opportunities, and strengthen community participation, while offering practical strategies for choosing and planning transportation that meets individual needs.

Planning and Budgeting for Life on Their Terms: Managing Self-Directed Services

Managing self-directed services takes planning, budgeting, and support—but it also creates opportunities for greater choice and independence. This brief highlights how people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families manage services to build personalized supports that help them pursue employment and community life.

Using Self-Directed Services to Achieve Competitive Integrated Employment and Enhance Community Life Engagement

Self-directed services give people with intellectual and developmental disabilities greater choice and control over the supports they use to pursue employment and community life. This research brief highlights real stories and practical strategies showing how self-direction can improve independence, build strong support networks, and expand opportunities for competitive integrated employment.

What are the Most Important HCBS Waiver Elements for Increasing Integrated Employment Participation? Results of a Delphi Process with IDD Agency Staff

This Research to Practice brief examines how state Medicaid HCBS waiver design affects access to integrated employment for people with IDD by analyzing state funding policies, identifying predictors of better employment participation, and gathering expert input through a Delphi panel. Findings indicate that strong funding incentives and staff capacity are most critical for improving employment outcomes, while transportation remains a major barrier.

The Relationship between State IDD Agency Employment Payment Methods and Employment Service Provision for People with IDD

This Research to Practice brief highlights findings from a study analyzing 101 Medicaid HCBS waivers and national survey data to explore how waiver features relate to integrated employment services. The study identifies policy elements that may enhance employment outcomes for individuals with IDD across the U.S.

Trends and Emerging Issues Regarding SSA/VR Reimbursements for SSI/SSDI Recipients

Research to Practice Brief, 2006

The SSA/VR reimbursement program is the process by which public vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies submit claims to the Social Security Administration (SSA). In effect since 1983, the procedure enables the VR system to receive reimbursement for the costs expended assisting SSI recipients and SSDI beneficiaries to enter and sustain employment above the substantial gainful activity (SGA) level. This brief discusses the declining amount of reimbursement paid to public VR agencies from federal fiscal year (FFY) 2002 to FFY 2005 by considering the impact that fewer claims submitted and a rising SGA level may have on the amount of reimbursement paid.

State Employment Practices: Funding for Employment Services

As state developmental disability service systems strive to balance myriad challenges, the inevitable question of funding must be addressed. Through State Employment Leadership Network (SELN) events, member states have regularly expressed the need for additional analysis and insights related to rates, reimbursement, and funding issues. This series of Funding Summaries is intended to shed light on the complexities as well as successes experienced by state systems across the country.

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